“For most drones, you’ll need to pur- chase the smart controller separately,” says Henry. “Basic controllers can be used with a smartphone. But for a few hundred dollars, the smart controller can give you more options, including a screen display.” To use the imagery and video obtained by the drone, proper soware and ap- plications are needed as well. “For mapping jobs, drones need the right soware,” explains Brown. “So- ware like Maps Made Easy can be used on iOS or Android to easily draw a box around an area for the drone to fly. The drone goes up, flies the predetermined flight path, gives real-time feedback, and captures imagery that is later stitched into a larger map.” DRONES AT WORK In forestry work, drones help conduct wildfire management by providing awareness of hot spots and fire pe-
This image captured by a drone shows different elevations identified by a color code.
rimeters. They are also used to ensure that seedling inventories at the USDA’s six national nurseries are meeting the demand of the agency’s reforestation eff orts. “What we would be using UAVs for is flying over these seedling lots and us- ing cameras to recreate the lot in 3D and create a map of the area,” says Clark.
The USDA is quick to point out that drones have their limits. “One thing we oen say is that UAVs are not the solution for everything,” says Fraser. “It may be efficient, but it’s not going to replace people on the ground doing that work.” For the average tree care company, drones capture data and aerial imagery
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